The Devil You Don't Episode 01: Freshmen
by LearnedHand
Summary: My rewite of Season 4, after making one change to Season 3.
1. DYD Prologue

**Title:** The Devil You Don't--Episode 01: Freshmen

**Author:** LearnedHand (learnedhan@excite.com)

**Summary:** I'm writing an alternate Season 4 for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My title for the season is The Devil You Don't. This is the first episode, called Freshmen. I have the entire season roughly outlined, but at this rate I'll be dead before I finish actually writing it. I'm planning on structuring each episode like an actual one (Teaser, Acts 1-4), although I'm not writing in script form.

**Spoilers:** Everything through Graduation Day, Part II. Certain events of canon Season 4 will also happen during the course of this series.

**Rating:** PG-13, for violence, language and implied sexual content. Certain parts may reach the R level later on in the series, when and if the sexual content becomes less implied.

**'Ships:** Assume all 'ships are as they were as of the end of S3. They are subject to change during the course of this series, of course.

**Disclaimer:** All the characters and settings contained herein are owned by their respective authors/production companies. As I am not getting any monetary benefit from their use, I thought it would be okay to borrow them. One or two of the characters are creations of mine, and those I retain the rights to.

**Archiving:** I'll probably say yes, but I'd like to be asked first.

**Feedback:** Feedback, as Tenhawk says, is the coin of the realm.

**Author's Note:** I know I just said I wasn't going to be writing this in script form, but I decided to do my Prologue in script form, because it is a replacement to a scene from Choices in S3. The idea being that, in my little variation of the BtVS universe, everything that happened before S4 comes from the actual scripts, except this little change, so I should keep this change in script form. Don't look at me like that; it makes sense in my head...

**Author's Note 2:** None of this has been beta'd, so I'd appreciate any feedback that gently points out typographical or other errors.

PROLOGUE 

End of Season 3 episode Choices, outside on the lawn of Sunnydale High School:

Daylight on campus. Buffy is crouched, leaning back against a tree. Willow walks up.

Willow: Deep thoughts? 

Buffy: Deep and meaningful. 

Willow: As in? 

Buffy: As in, I'm never getting out of here. I kept thinking if I stopped the Mayor or ... but I was kidding myself. I mean, there is always going to be something. I'm a Sunnydale girl, no other choice. 

Willow: Must be tough. I mean, here I am, I can do anything I want. I can go to any college in the country, four or five in Europe if I want. 

Buffy: Please tell me you're going somewhere with this? 

Willow: No. (hands Buffy a letter) I'm not going anywhere. 

Buffy: Crestwood College? 

Willow: I will be matriculating with Class of 2003. 

Buffy: Are you serious? 

Willow: Say, isn't that in the same town as your school? 

Buffy hugs her and they tumble onto the ground. 

Buffy: I can't believe it! Are you serious? Ah, wait, what am I saying? You can't. 

Willow: What do you mean, I can't? 

Buffy: I won't let you. 

Willow: Of the two people here, which is the boss of me? 

Buffy: There are better schools. 

Willow: Crestwood's not bad. A-And I can design my own curriculum. 

Buffy: Okay, well, there are safer schools. There are safer prisons. I can't let you stay because of me. 

Willow: Actually, this isn't about you. Although I'm fond, don't get me wrong, of you. The other night, you know, being captured and all, facing off with Faith. Things just, kind of, got clear. I mean, you've been fighting evil here for three years, and I've helped some, and now we're supposed to decide what we want to do with our lives. And I just realized that that's what I want to do. Fight evil, help people. I mean, I-I think it's worth doing. And I don't think you do it because you have to. It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in. 

Buffy: I kind of love you. 

Willow: And, besides, I have a shot at being a bad ass Wiccan, and what better place to learn? 

Buffy: I feel the need for more sugar than the human body can handle. 

Willow: Mochas? 

Buffy: Yes, please. It's weird. You look at something and you think you know exactly what you're seeing, and then you find out it's something else entirely. 

Willow: Neat, huh? 

Buffy: Sometimes it is.


	2. Teaser

**The Devil You Don't Episode 01: Freshmen**

**Teaser**

Buffy paced relentlessly between two rows of headstones, eyes glued to the ground, tossing a stake back and forth between her hands. She was wearing a gray tank top under a black hooded sweatshirt, along with black jeans and sneakers. She had been trying to wear more easily washed clothes out on patrol recently. After all, she reasoned, she was going to be responsible for her own laundry very soon, and she wasn't sure she could work the same miracles her mom did getting out the blood stains.

Buffy's pacing had begun to wear a faint path in the grass. Keep in mind, the groundskeepers of Sunnydale's numerous cemeteries took great pride in the quality of their grass. The Sunnydale Cemetery Workers' Association even awarded a prize for the best turf at their annual dinner. Because of that, the grass in a Sunnydale cemetery was almost as durable as what you'd find on a professional sports field. Wearing a path in this grass, even a faint one, required a lot of effort.

Buffy was making that effort and then some. She had already staked two vamps that night, but that hadn't helped her mood any. "So much for 'kicking ass is comfort food,'" she thought sardonically as she scuffed her feet back and forth. She finally stopped her incessant pacing, scowled and looked down at the grave of David White, who was supposed to rise tonight. 

Buffy spoke without looking up. "Anything?"

At Buffy's question, Giles stopped what he was doing and looked up. He was facing Buffy, standing behind a chest-high monument one row over from where she stood. He had been flipping through a large book that rested on the broad, flat top of the monument, occasionally making notes on a pad of paper resting off to the side.

"Nothing that you want to hear," Giles replied quietly. Buffy sighed audibly and resumed her pacing.

Giles stopped leafing through the book and walked around to the other side of the monument. He did that in part to remove the physical barrier between himself and his Slayer, but also to give himself a chance to prepare what he wanted to say. He took off his glasses and began cleaning them, as was his custom when approaching a difficult subject.

"Buffy, you soundly rejected all my previous suggestions. I'm loath to make any more," Giles said to his glasses. The conversation having begun, he put his handkerchief away, put his glasses back on and looked up.

Buffy stopped pacing and looked up at him for the first time in this conversation, a wry grin on her face. "You're loath? I made you loath? How'd I do that? I'm not even sure what loath means."

Giles sighed to himself. He would never tell Buffy this, but he wished she didn't feel the need to pretend she knew less that she did, even when joking. No one got the kind of SAT scores Buffy did without knowing full well what "loath" meant.

Bringing his mind back to the conversation at hand, Giles decided to take the direct approach. "If it wasn't obvious before, it's obvious now that our academic tastes are, at the very least, incompatible, if not completely opposite. Asking me to help you select your classes is like..."

Buffy took advantage of the pause. "...asking Xander to help me pick out clothes? No; he'd probably enjoy himself way too much. Ooh, I know! Asking Angel to help me pick out a new man?"

Giles, a bit taken aback by Buffy's last comment, leaned back against the large monument he had been behind earlier. This was the first time he'd heard Buffy refer to her potential objects of affection as men instead of boys, and he wasn't sure he liked the change. Bringing his attention back to the conversation again, he sighed and forged ahead. "Either of those will do. If you already knew this wouldn't work, why did you ask me for help?"

Now it was Buffy's turn to sigh. She turned her back on David White's grave and began walking towards Giles as she spoke. "Because I have no idea what I'm doing. And whenever that happens, I come to you."

Giles looked very pleased, in a reserved British way. Buffy caught the look in his eye, and couldn't resist a little dig. "Of course, the fact that no else's around might have something to do with it, too."

Giles's gaze went from pleased to concerned. He knew Buffy's comment was meant to be playful, but Giles also knew there was a bitter truth in there as well. Angel had left right after graduation, leaving no word as to his whereabouts. Cordelia left for Los Angeles not long after that, and then Xander left for his trip. Neither Slayerette had seen fit to contact anyone since they left. Willow and Oz had valiantly tried to give Buffy as much of their time as they could, but there was no mistaking that their priority was each other. And after Willow started at Crestwood two weeks ago, it became painfully obvious to Giles that Buffy was feeling abandoned.

Giles knew full well that this was a normal side effect of the transition to university life, and that Buffy would have a new social set soon enough. The problem was that she was also the Slayer. Giles had come to firmly believe that the reason why Buffy had been such an exemplary Slayer was because she maintained a strong connection to the real world through her friends and mother. The last thing he wanted was for Buffy to lose the strength and motivation she drew from that connection, even if it was just for a while. All it would take would be one moment of weakness...Giles stopped that line of thought before it went further than he was comfortable with. He fervently hoped that the moment he dare not think of would not come anytime soon.

As soon as he learned of Angel, Xander and Cordelia's post-graduation plans, Giles began drawing up a list of tasks and training to keep Buffy occupied over the summer, hoping to make up for their absence with activity. Fortunately, it had been a surprisingly eventful summer supernaturally, and he hadn't needed to force the issue too much. Things had finally calmed down a bit a couple of weeks ago, just when Willow started university.

Before he'd even had a chance to start in on his list of tasks and training, Giles was surprised to find Buffy making suggestions of things she could do. She had volunteered to help Giles organize the boxes of books he had taken out of the library before graduation. She had spent time exploring possible locations where they could restart her physical training in privacy, now that the library was gone. She had even volunteered to begin working on the more mental aspects of her training, including working with crystals. It was this suggestion that finally convinced Giles that Buffy was doing more than just feeling abandoned. She was procrastinating.

He had discovered, after a little pointed questioning, that Buffy had done almost nothing to prepare for university. She was late picking her classes and she hadn't turned in her room assignment forms. Giles had gotten her to turn in her housing paperwork last week, but getting her to fill out her class selection sheet had been like pulling teeth. He finally decided the only way this would get done is if he took the materials on patrol with her. Giles knew that she wouldn't run away from her duty, and that afforded him the opportunity to talk to her about her classes between vampires. Of course, he had not realized how badly his attempts to help in this process would go.

Giles decided talking about classes was not going to yield any better results tonight. He decided instead to address his abandonment concerns. "Buffy," Giles began, "you know I'm not a part of the Council any more..."

Buffy looked confused at the apparent subject change. "Yeaaah..."

"And that technically, Wesley is still your Watcher," Giles continued.

Buffy obviously didn't like where this conversation was going, and was starting to fidget. "Yeah, but he left town right after graduation for who knows where, so, not doing so well with the watching. What's your point, Giles?"

Giles looked intently at the Slayer, until she met his gaze. "Buffy, I want you to know that I will always consider myself your Watcher. I will be here for you, whenever you need me."

Buffy looked pleased for a moment, but her face fell a little when it was obvious that Giles had more to say. "There's a 'but' approaching, isn't there?"

Giles sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot tonight. He ignored Buffy's comment and soldiered on. "However," he emphasized, garnering a small smile from Buffy for avoiding using "but," "there are certain things I can't help you with. I can't help you pick out new clothes. I certainly don't want to talk about boys with you. I apparently can't be helpful when it comes to selecting classes that will appeal to your conflicting desires that they be interesting and yet non-demanding, and not fall before 11 a.m. I can't..."

"I get the point, Giles," Buffy interrupted, with a combination of resignation and irritation. She walked over to the monument Giles was leaning against, and stepped up on the six-inch wide lip running around the base so she could easily grab her course catalog. Once she had both feet on the lip she paused, then seemed to change her reason for being there and folded her arms, resting them on top on top of the monument, which thanks to the lip she was standing on came up to her armpits. She rested her chin on her forearms, and gazed out at the mausoleums and crypts in the southern part of the cemetery. "You want me to find some kids my own age to play with," Buffy said, with a slight pout in her voice.

Giles turned around so they were both facing the same direction. Instead of looking at her as they continued talking, Giles joined her in looking out at nothing in particular. "Buffy, you are going to be starting university in a matter of days. You will be thrown into unfamiliar situations, with unfamiliar people. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to, as you say, 'find kids your own age' with which to play. However, as we discussed earlier, you will need to be more careful this time to hide your identity as the Slayer from your classmates."

"Giles, you know that none of that was my fault. Xander overheard, I had to save Willow, and everything just blew up from there."

As Giles and Buffy continued to debate the question of whether or not Buffy even knew how to protect a secret identity, a hand burst through the ground in front of David White's tombstone. Unfortunately, as they had their backs turned and were engrossed in their conversation, neither Giles nor Buffy noticed as the former David White, investment banker, clawed his way out of the ground, enjoying his first few moments as David White, vampire. Not believing his luck, Mr. White hurried his ascent so he could get to the two tasty treats that fate had left for his first meal.

"Please, Buffy," Giles said, still not hearing the vampire, "all I'm trying to say is that you will need to be as cautious as possible around everyone regarding your identity as the Slayer while you are at university." Buffy gave him a look that said "Duh!" louder than words. "But," Giles continued, ignoring the look, "at the same time, you need to be as open as possible to new experiences, and making new friends. And I'm afraid that if you rely on me to fill too many roles in your life, just because I know you're the Slayer and that makes things easier, you might miss out on the joys that can be found socializing with your contemporaries." Although he was stating his concerns regarding Buffy's willingness to make new friends out loud for the first time, Giles decided not to give voice to his fear that not having a strong circle of friends might make her more vulnerable. No point in adding to her fear, Giles thought.

"So, what you're saying is you're worried I'm not going to go out and party enough?" Buffy paused for a moment, taking that in. "Wow. That is about as far away from Mom's before-college talk as you can get," Buffy smiled.

"Yes, well, your Mother sees a different side of you than I," Giles smiled back.

Buffy lifted her head off of her arms as she unfolded them, took the course catalog in her hands, and sighed. "I just wish life was as easy as slaying, ya know? Slaying just so...I don't know..."

"Simple?" Giles suggested.

"Yeah, simple will do. I see a vamp, I stake a vamp." Mr. White had finally gotten out of the ground a few seconds before and started towards his meal, but paused to listen once he heard Buffy use "stake" and "vamp" in the same sentence. "There's no question of choice...except when it was Angel, but you know what I mean. I am the Vampire Slayer, so I kill vampires." Showing a remarkable amount of common sense for a newly-risen vampire, Mr. White decided to find his first meal elsewhere and started to slowly back away. "Nobody's asking me what kind of Slayer I want to be in a few years, or what I should do to prepare to get there. I know how to do what I need to do, and I have you for the things I don't know. But college?" At this, she tossed the course catalog over her head, almost hitting Mr. White, who turned and began to creep away more quickly. "I have no idea."

"Buffy, you really shouldn't worry so much." Giles responded. "The vast majority of students entering university have no idea what they want to do once they are finished, and those who think they do often change their minds before they are done. No one wants you to commit to a certain path right now. You do need to make some choices, and those choices by definition are going to limit what you can do next. All you can do is make the best choices you can based on what you know and feel now."

Another big sigh escaped Buffy's lips. It had been a sighing kind of night for everyone. "I know, Giles, I know. I've just got to buckle down and make some choices. But thanks for the pep talk." She turned towards Mr. White's grave, just in time to see Mr. White upgrade his escape pace from a creep to a dead run. "There you are!" Buffy said, the life back in her voice, resignation gone for now. "Don't you know it's not nice to keep a girl waiting?"

Buffy tore off at a full sprint after Mr. White. After just a few paces, her left foot landed on the course catalog she had tossed away earlier. The catalog skidded to Buffy's left along the surface of the grass that she had worn down pacing, taking Buffy's left foot with it. She lost her balance entirely and pitched forward, landing awkwardly on her right shoulder.

"Buffy!" Giles called, as he hurried to her side, sparing a glance at the back of the rapidly retreating vampire as he did so. "Are you hurt?"

"Just my pride," muttered Buffy into the ground. She tried to roll off her right side onto her stomach to get into a better position to push herself up off the ground, and gave a surprised squeal as pain seemed to burst from her right shoulder and radiate both down her arm and into her torso. She continued the roll until she was on her left side, and then she carefully sat up using her left arm for leverage against the ground. The pain in her right shoulder seemed tolerable, as long as she didn't move her right arm. "My pride lives in my right shoulder, apparently," Buffy said through gritted teeth.

Giles made a few knowing grunts and mm-hmms as he examined Buffy shoulder, earning a few yelps from his Slayer as he prodded the shoulder and attempted to move the arm. "Well, Buffy, you haven't dislocated it, which is actually unfortunate. A dislocated shoulder would be pretty easy to pop back in. It looks like you severely sprained the ligaments and tendons. It will take a while for those to heal, even with your Slayer healing."

"What does that mean?" Buffy asked, her jaw beginning to ache as well from the stress caused by grinding her teeth while Giles examined her.

Giles helped Buffy up, careful to avoid jostling her needlessly. "I think you need to get right home, ice that shoulder, and you'll probably need to keep it in a sling for a few days."

"A few days?" Buffy cried. "You mean I'll be in a sling on my first day of college?" Buffy started pacing, then stopped when she realized it was making the pain worse by jarring the shoulder. She put the energy she couldn't expend physically into the rising agitation in her voice. "This is terrible! I'm going to end up with some stupid nickname, like Lefty, or Sling Blade, and everyone will call me that forever, even at reunions. How can I work on being stealth girl and fitting in when everyone's going to notice me?"

Giles, being well acquainted with the moods of his Slayer, wisely said nothing and let her continue her rant as he guided her carefully out of the cemetery.

*******************************

Buffy got out of her mother's black Jeep Grand Cherokee, grabbed her duffel bag out of the back seat with her left hand, and carefully hoisted it onto her left shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you with that, honey?" Joyce Summers called from the driver's seat. 

"Do you have any idea what having my Mommy walk me to my dorm on my first day will do to my reputation?" Buffy looked into the car from the passenger side window, and noticed Joyce's slightly crestfallen look. "Besides, I don't want to have too many grad students asking me for my Mom's phone number. That's just icky."

Joyce smiled at Buffy's compliment. "Oh, I don't know, dear. I really could use a strong young man around the house. There are so many things I could think of for him to do..."

Buffy cringed. "Eww. No going Mrs. Robinson on me, Mom. I don't think I could deal."

Joyce gave a theatrical sigh. "If you insist, sweetie. You'll be by for the rest of your stuff later?"

"Yeah, Oz is going to lend a hand, and a van, too. We'll be by later this afternoon."

"Okay, see you then. And sweetie?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Have fun."

With that, Joyce drove off, headed back into the center of town and the gallery. Buffy turned from the sidewalk and trudged up the dozen or so concrete steps to the main part of the campus, keeping her head down as she concentrated on not moving too quickly and accidentally jarring her shoulder. "Damn," Buffy thought to herself, "I hope I don't have to answer too many questions about the sling. The last thing I want to be is the center of attention."

Just as that thought finished going through her head, Buffy crested the steps and looked up at the main campus quad. It was literally full of people. There were rivers of students winding this way and that, all seeming to know where they were going. She saw several tables along the main walkway with signs over them for various organizations, ranging from the UCS GaLeBiTran Student Union (which she would later learn stood for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered, though most people just called the group Galebi) to the Conservative Society. Some students seemed to be following leaders around, others seemed to be milling around with friends, but everyone seemed to know where they were going, or what they were doing. Buffy didn't think she had felt so out of place in her entire life.

As she waded into the throng of people, headed towards where she thought the dorm check-in was, Buffy thought, "Well, so much for being the center of attention." 


	3. Act One

_A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed. I appreciate your praise; honestly, I wasn't expecting much reaction, so getting any at all feels great._

_One of the reviewers felt the teaser was a bit long (I'm sure they'll love Act One then, which is much longer). This might have something to do with the way I write, but adding in all the internal dialogue and description takes something that might have been one page of script and turns it into three pages of prose. I honestly think if I turned this into a script, it would be roughly as long as a usual episode would be._

By the way, you may recognize some of the dialogue in this and subsequent acts. If I liked a line and it still worked in context, I usually kept it in. This will probably happen less and less in subsequent episodes, as my story deviates more widely from canon (the first two or three episodes will be alterations of canon, but some of the later episodes are going to be entirely original).

_And finally, one of the reviewers thought this might have the potential to be a fan fiction classic. On the one hand, I'm humbled that someone thinks that much of my writing, cause there are a boatload of really good fics out there. On the other hand, I'm terrified. Jeez, pressure much? This is my first fan fic, after all. After such praise of my first two segments, I hope this one lives up to the others._

_Now, as they say, on with the show!_

**_The Devil You Don't Episode 01: Freshmen_**

**Act One**

Buffy paused on the steps of Stevenson Hall, gazing out over the sea of humanity on the quad. She thanked her mother again in her head for insisting they walk around the campus last week. Mom had claimed it was because she wanted to see the place her daughter was going to be spending most of her time, and that she wanted to do it without so many people around. Buffy was beginning to think her mother knew what this day would be like, and her real reason was to give Buffy a small sense of comfort by being at least a little familiar with the place.

Note to self, Buffy thought. Mom gets major prezzies, soon.

Knowing where the buildings were was cool, but only a small part of the battle. After checking in to her dorm, finding her room, and dropping her duffel bag on the bed she wanted (on the right-hand side of the room as you stood in the doorway; yea for being first), Buffy picked up her orientation packet. Apparently, there were a raft of meetings, tours and activities scheduled for incoming freshmen today, all of which she was supposed to attend. Somewhere in there she was supposed to get her ID, which doubled as her meal card. However, to get to her first scheduled activity, a tour of the science building, she had to brave the throng on the quad. She took a deep breath, and began to walk down the steps.

"Nice sling. New look?"

Buffy had been so busy looking at the crowded quad that she hadn't noticed Oz at the bottom of her dorm's steps. She gave him a bright smile and hopped down the last few steps, feeling better than she had since she left her mom's car. "What, this old thing? All the cool kids will be wearing them in the next couple of weeks. I wanted to be ahead of the curve."

"Good to know." Oz replied, as economical with words as ever. "What's your color?"

"What's that, some sort of strange freshman greeting ritual? Like what's your sign?" Buffy replied, confused.

"Your folder color," said Oz, not so much ignoring Buffy's quip as feeling no need to comment on it. "Same folder color, same schedule."

"Oh my god. We were supposed to keep the folder? I didn't want to haul a bunch of stuff around all day with one arm, so I just put my schedule in my pocket. I'm supposed to be at the science building in 5 minutes, so I don't have time to go back upstairs..." Buffy looked away from Oz and out to the throngs on the quad. "Jeez, I've only been here fifteen minutes and I'm already screwing things up."

"Relax, Buffy. Your color's on the top of your schedule sheet, too." Oz knew it was hard to read his expressions, but he hoped he was giving Buffy a reassuring look. "I'm supposed to be at the field house in five, so you're obviously not a gold."

Buffy took her schedule out of her left pocket. "Nope, I'm green. When do you have a break?"

"Booked solid 'til 2."

"Okay." Buffy thought for a minute, looking at her schedule. "Want to meet here at 2:15? I'm not too concerned about missing the tour of the library. We can figure out the moving thing then."

"Sounds good. See you then." Oz turned and headed off toward the athletic complex. Buffy lost sight of him in the crowd almost immediately.

Buffy took another deep breath. I can do this, she thought. Yeah, it's strange and different, but I'm the Slayer. Strange and different is what I do best. If I can handle the Ascension, I can handle the Orientation.

With that thought, Buffy headed out into the quad, working her way into the stream of students with green folders heading for the science building.

*******************************

Oz took his watch out of his pocket, checked the time, and put it back. It was 2:35, and he was beginning to think about moving on to elsewhere. He wished he had thought to bring a book with him to pass the time.

Oz was sitting on one of the benches just beyond the Stevenson Hall main entrance, giving him a good view of everyone coming and going. Conversely, his location gave everyone else a good view of him, too. Seeing how most of the other freshmen were running around looking lost, his casual demeanor gave most who saw him the impression he was an upperclassman. That lead to several lost freshmen coming up and asking him questions, about what building was where and the like.

Oz was glad to answer their questions, but he didn't think that was enough reason to sit around waiting forever. It wasn't like he had somewhere else to be, but it was the principle of the thing.

Just as he reached the decision to leave, another freshman tentatively approached him. She had shoulder-length blond hair, was maybe a bit taller than Oz, and dressed in what Oz thought of as earth mother chic. Long, shapeless skirt made from a multi-colored fabric tending toward brown, paired with a long-sleeved shapeless brown top. Although Oz couldn't see her feet, he presumed if he could he would find Birkenstocks there. She had what would best be described as a brown suede satchel over one shoulder, and Oz guessed she had a lost look in her eye. Oz didn't know for sure what look her eyes had, though, because she kept her eyes on the ground, glancing up only occasionally.

"Excuse me?" the freshman began, timidly.

Oz decided to give her a little smile, to try to put her at ease. She was obviously nervous as hell. "Yes?"

The freshman took a deep breath, as if to steel herself for something unpleasant, but still didn't raise her eyes. "I need to get my ID card. Um, do you know where you get those?"

Out of all the nervous freshman he'd seen today, this one definitely was the worst. He was almost afraid to answer, thinking she might dart away like a spooked deer if she heard a sound she wasn't expecting. Another situation where my laconic nature works in my favor, he thought. "Sure. Go straight on this path to the other side of the quad, turn right, and go into the building with Wiesman over the door. From there, follow the signs."

The freshman turned as soon as the last word was out of Oz's mouth, and with a mumbled "Thanks," she head off on her way.

As the nervous freshman headed off, Oz's wolf senses kicked in, picking something up from the air. He could smell the usual suspects from her: organic soap, herbal shampoo, and laundry detergent from her clothes, along with incense and candle smoke. There was something in the smoke, however, that seemed off, yet strangely familiar. He didn't get a chance to think about it further, as another blond freshman rushed up to him.

"God, Oz, I'm so sorry! I thought 20 minutes would be plenty of time to get my ID, but the line was glacial!" Buffy blurted out, obviously distressed about leaving Oz hanging.

Oz toyed with the idea of messing with Buffy a little, and decided against it. Most other people didn't get his humor, and today didn't seem like the day to use it on Buffy. He shrugged instead. "No big. People watched, answered some questions. Ready?"

Buffy graced him with a big smile, and looped her good arm in his as soon as he stood up. "Ready. To the Ozmobile, away!"

*******************************

After they'd made it halfway across the quad, Buffy noticed where Oz was headed, and paused. "Are you sure this is the best way to get to your van?"

"Why?" said Oz, ignoring the actual question.

"Well, um... honestly, I've kind of been avoiding that section of campus all day. Wanna go around?"

Oz looked up at where they were headed, and figured out what was bothering Buffy. "There is no around. Besides, you'd better get used to it. Today is a bit intense, everyone being out for the freshmen, but at least some of these guys are out every day."

Buffy swallowed, gritted her teeth, and made a decision. "Okay. I can do this. Let's go."

With that, Buffy ran The Gauntlet for the first time.

Despite UC-Sunnydale's size, there were only two ways to get conveniently off campus and into Sunnydale proper. Earlier this morning, Buffy's mom had dropped her off at the south entrance, which was fine for people on foot, but it wasn't near a parking lot. Buffy and Oz were now headed towards the west entrance, which led to the main student parking lots. The field house and other athletic facilities were in back of the parking lots, and the frats and sororities were just down the road.

Because of all the different things that were best accessible through the west entrance, just about everybody went through there at some point during their day. Therefore, the 200-foot walkway between the quad and the entrance was the prime place for any group looking for attention to set up a table. And because of the, shall we say, aggressive nature of some of these groups, the walkway was referred to by most students as The Gauntlet.

During her travels back and forth for her various orientation activities, Buffy had noticed The Gauntlet, but not gone anywhere near it. Scanning the signs and banners on both sides of the walkway, Buffy noticed that some of these groups had also set up tables by the first entrance, but she had been able to avoid those this morning.

No avoiding possible now, Buffy thought as she and Oz headed in.

The first person to approach Oz and Buffy looked Indian, all the way up to his turban. "Rally tomorrow night. We have to let the administration know how we feel!" he said earnestly, handing them both flyers.

"Right," Oz replied in his usual monotone.

The next person was wearing a severe-looking skirt and dress shirt combo, showing as little skin as possible. She wanted to know, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"

Deciding that humor was the best way to deal with that question, Buffy replied, "Well, you know, I meant to, and then I was busy all day..."

Before Buffy could fully turn away from the severe Christian lady, she had a yellow flier thrust into her hand by an unkempt, unshaven guy who looked like he'd gotten an early start on his evening. "Party Thursday at Alpha Delt. Gotta be there - free jello shots for freshmen women. That's our guarantee!"

This continued on for some time, until they finally reached The Gauntlet's end and passed through the west gate, headed toward the parking lot. Buffy and Oz both paused by the giant recycling bins that were kept there for obvious reasons, sorting through flyers in case there was one they actually wanted to keep.

Oz noticed Buffy's pile was much bigger than his. "Never walked through there with a woman before," he observed. "You attract a different type."

Buffy looked up at him, still a bit dazed from the whole thing. "The Jello Shot type?"

Oz nodded. "Exactly." Then he noticed Buffy hadn't gone back to sorting flyers, and was now staring off into space. "You OK?"

Buffy sighed deeply, and looked over at Oz. "I'm alright. Just feeling a little overwhelmed, that's all. I mean sure, like 25% of our graduating class is here somewhere, but it's just that you're the only one that I know well, and you can't really share my pain, 'cause you've been here, like, a million times before."

Oz tried to be helpful. "Yeah, but I'm a student now. Totally different vibe."

Buffy was not helped. "But you know what's going on, where to go, what to do, and I've got no clue. Plus I've got that whole..." Buffy paused, looking around to see if she could be overheard. "...slaying thing. That's bound to cause problems. I'm...I'm beginning to wonder if I should even be here. Maybe I should just go home..."

Oz knew most freshmen felt like this at some point, but that didn't mean he could ignore it. This called for verbiage. "Look, Buffy, all I've ever done is play gigs here. So, yeah, I know the campus, and maybe something about the social scene, but this being a student thing is way more than that. You know, classes and stuff? We're on the same level there. Besides, 1/4 of the student body is in the same boat you are. You're not alone in this."

Buffy smiled for a second at Oz's long (for him) speech, but was immediately distracted by a stranger thumping Oz on the back.

"Oz!" said the thumper.

"Paul," Oz replied, non-plussed.

"Tell me you guys are playing this week, man."

Oz thought for a second, and then replied, "Thursday night, Alpha Delt."

"Awright!" Paul nearly shouted. "I'm bringing the wrecking crew. Jello Shots! See you there, man!"

Oz looked back over at Buffy, who was looking down at her leaflets again, distractedly.

"OK, I guess I can't minimize the social benefits of being me," Oz said, with a sigh. "I know people, but they tend to be more of the crazy frat guy type, seeing how they're the ones who need bands and stuff."

Buffy shrugged, and kept sorting through her leaflets. Oz came upon something he thought might cheer her up, but he wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. After all, most of the guys he knew would see Buffy as a target, not a friend. Still, some of the guys were okay, and Oz knew Buffy could take care of herself. "You want me to show you around a little, introduce you maybe? I could give you a heads up on the guys to avoid, guys who are okay, that kind of thing."

Buffy seemed to cheer right up. She aimed one of her biggest smiles at Oz, but then it faded into a small frown. "You sure you don't mind? I think I'd feel better if I just had some idea what was going on, but I don't want you to feel like you have to baby sit me or anything."

"No babysitting needed, I'm sure," Oz replied. "Maybe after we move your stuff over, I'll take you on a tour of frat row, show you the sororities, too, and introduce you to whoever we run into. After that, you're on your own."

Buffy broke out another grin. "That's perfect! Thanks, Oz."

*******************************

Buffy waved goodbye to Oz as he pulled out of the student parking lot, heading over to the house he and his band mates were living in. Off-campus housing, Buffy thought. Gotta try that sometime.

It was getting on to dusk, so Buffy hurried across the quad towards her dorm, thankful The Gauntlet was pretty much abandoned, and carrying one last shoebox of miscellaneous stuff underneath her good arm. She wanted to patrol early tonight, figuring that most of these freshmen hadn't had a chance to learn about the whole "travel at night only in large groups on well-lit paths" rule to surviving Sunnydale. Giles had said there were no reports of vampire-like attacks on the UC-Sunnydale campus since he'd arrived in town three years ago, but Buffy and Giles both knew that no reports didn't always mean no attacks.

She had enjoyed spending the afternoon with Oz, even if it did involve moving her stuff from her house into her room, and then roping him into helping unpack what they'd brought in, followed by heading back to her house for dinner a la Joyce. They'd even made a date of sorts for tomorrow night, to do the frat row tour originally scheduled for tonight, and then to head over to Alpha Delt where Dingoes were playing.

Today had been the most Oz-filled day Buffy had ever had. She'd never really spent any time with him sans Willow before, but it was less awkward than she thought it would be. When it was just him and someone else, Oz talked more than when he was in a group of three or more, apparently. She had been worried about having him be the only on-campus Scooby, but now she was feeling better about the whole thing. Oz wasn't Xander or Willow, but he might just turn out to be a really good friend on his own merits, Buffy decided.

Buffy's thoughts returned to this evening's patrol and what routes to take as she wound her way through the milling students in her dorm and got to her door. After playing with her key in the lock for a few minutes, she realized the door wasn't locked anymore.

As her mind ran through all the different types of enemies she had who might want to break into her room, Buffy examined the doorframe, looking for signs of forced entry. She was hunched over looking at the lock closely when the door unexpectedly opened, causing Buffy to stand up straight with a little yelp.

Buffy's quick motion and yelp startled the person opening the door. She stumbled back into the room, never regaining her balance completely, until she ended up sitting on Buffy's bed.

The person that opened the door looked like a regular non-demon-type person to Buffy on first glance. Dirty blond, shoulder-length hair, pin-straight. Color-coordinated dress sense, if a bit on the dowdy/hippy side. Fairly non-threatening face. Big eyes. She didn't look like anyone Buffy had seen before, but she had to be sure. "I'm Buffy, I live here. And you are...?"

The girl on her bed didn't move, just kept staring at Buffy. It was unnerving.

"Hello-oo?" Buffy said, managing to put a little irritation and a small dose of mocking into her tone.

The other woman came back to reality with a start. "Oh! Um, you're Buffy?"

"Yep. And we're back to the 'you are...'"

The other girl smiled a little, then looked at her feet, suddenly bashful. "Tara."

Buffy's brain ran through her list of known demons and other nasties, not coming up with a Tara. She was pretty sure she'd heard the name recently, though... suddenly, it struck her. "Roommate?"

Tara was a little confused, trying to figure out who else she would have been. "Um, yes."

Buffy's look went from suspicious to friendly in a heartbeat. She walked into the room, put her box down, and put her good hand out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you. When did you get in?"

Tara took her hand and shook it tentatively. "Just after two. I kind of dumped my stuff in here and ran around trying make up for being late. I just got back."

We'll, that explains why I hadn't seen her yet, Buffy thought. She nodded at Tara, and put the box she'd brought in on her desk and opened it up. Tara, finally realizing that she was sitting on Buffy's bed, hopped up and quickly made her way over to her side of the room and went back to opening up her boxes.

Because she and Oz had taken care of most of the unpacking before dinner, the only thing left for Buffy to put away was the stuff from the miscellaneous box. It was mostly pictures and knick- knacks from her bedroom at home, along with Mr. Gordo. Once she was done, Buffy hopped up on her bed and leaned back against the wall behind it, twisting her legs until she was sitting Indian-style. Tara seemed a bit skittish, Buffy decided. Better try to break the ice.

"So," Buffy began, effectively startling Tara, "it's a pretty nice room, don'tcha think?"

It was a fairly nice room, for freshmen. The two sides of the room were mirror images, furniture- wise. The door was roughly in the center of the longer wall, bisecting the room. To the right of the door as you looked into the room were a small sink and mirror, with room for Buffy's new small refrigerator underneath. Opposite the door were two large windows. Both sides of the room contained a black metal-framed single bed underneath the window with a wooden bedside table. The shorter walls had a closet and a plain wooden dresser. There were desks and with small bookshelves above them on either side of the door.

"Yes, it's a nice room," Tara agreed quietly, before something made her brighten a little. "Do you know if they'll let us paint the walls or anything?"

"No, why? You find some peeling paint or something?" Buffy hadn't seen any problem with her side while she and Oz were unpacking.

Tara almost visibly deflated. "N-no, its just...it'll be fine. Forget it."

With that, Tara went back to taking candles, incense holders, and other similar stuff out of her open box and putting them onto almost every available surface on her side of the room. She didn't seem inclined to continue the conversation, but Buffy was determined to learn as much as she could about her roommate. After all, if she was going to have to sneak in and out of the room (with weapons no less), do post-patrol first aid, change out of demon-ichor covered clothing, and all the other Slayer-type stuff without attracting Tara's curiosity, Buffy was going to have to know what kind of person this Tara was.

Buffy sighed internally. Honestly, she didn't see how Tara wasn't going to catch her doing something she couldn't explain someday. Her goal was just to put someday off as long as possible. Going back to information gathering, Buffy decided to rely on the old standards. "So, where you hail from?"

Tara looked up, startled again. Having someone else in the room with her was really going to take some getting used to, she decided. "Sorry?"

"You know, hometown? Previous residence?"

Tara looked even more nervous at this line of questioning, if that was possible. "It's a very small town up north. I'm sure you've never heard of it. You?"

Tara was skilled at deflecting conversation onto others, and to be honest, it had never been that hard to get Buffy to talk about herself. "L.A. up until sophomore year, but I've been a Sunnydale girl since then." Buffy paused for a moment. "Though, according to one of those flyers I picked up today, I shouldn't refer to myself as a girl anymore, 'cause that's just playing into the hands of the evil male cabal that runs the world. So, I guess I'm a Sunnydale woman now."

Tara smiled a bit at the "evil male cabal" comment. This Buffy seemed to be okay. Maybe having a roommate around wouldn't be so bad after all.

*******************************

Buffy called Willow almost as soon as she got up the next day, but she waited until Tara left to give Giles a call. She told him about her first day, and that she'd slain two newbies during last night's patrol of the campus. She hadn't had any problem getting out of the room with Tara there, saying she just wanted to walk around and get a feel for the campus, which was pretty much true, and Tara was already asleep when she got back. Still, she wasn't sure how many excuses she'd be able to come up with before Tara started to wonder. She was about to bring up her concerns about being able to keep Tara in the dark when Giles redirected the conversation.

"You said you got two newly-risen vampires last night, Buffy?"

"Yeah. Their clothes were pretty current, and they were amazingly stupid, so I'm figuring newbie. Why?"

Buffy could almost hear the wheels turning in Giles's head before he responded. "Usually, newly risen vampires either hunt where they rise or go to hunt near their previous home. So, either these vampires were turned on campus, or they lived on campus and were turned elsewhere. Either way, if you run into any vampires tonight, perhaps you should follow them, and see if you can find their nest. Slay them if they attempt to harm anyone, obviously, but it would be good to know if you have a newly-formed nest on campus, and if so, where."

"Sure thing. Change tactics from see 'n' slay to see 'n' stalk. No prob." Buffy looked at her bedside clock. "Gotta book, Giles. Willow's going to meet me at the library in a few, then we're going to get my books and hang for a while before she's got to go back to Crestwood."

"Why is Willow meeting you at the library? What library, for that matter?" Giles asked, confused.

"Well, I kinda skipped my tour of our library yesterday," Buffy replied, sheepishly. "And Willow says that UC-Sunnydale and Crestwood have got some inter-library thing, sharing resources and stuff, so she figures she'll be over here once in a while for research. She doesn't have any classes today until after lunch, so we decided to do the library tour thing together."

This was the first time Giles had heard that Willow might be spending some significant time on the UC-Sunnydale campus. Not too surprising, he decided, seeing how that's where Oz will be. "Ah, well, yes, then, have a good time today, and do say hello to Willow for me, won't you?"

"Sure thing Giles. 'Bye."

*******************************

Buffy met Willow later that morning at the south entrance as she got off the shuttle bus that apparently ran between the two campuses occasionally, and they headed across the quad towards the library.

"Thanks for coming over this morning, Will," Buffy began. "I didn't want to ask Oz for help again, after everything he did for me yesterday. Plus, I think he ran out of things to say by the end of the day."

The smile on Willow's face got larger at the thought of her boyfriend. "Yeah, well, taciturn, you know? Besides, I really wanted to come over here and see the library before now; I've just been waiting for you to get settled. I mean, we've got a great library at Crestwood, don't get me wrong, but you've got a much larger collection, so if I want anything esoteric, I've got to come over here. And based on my courses so far, I should hit esoteric sometime next month."

Willow paused for a breath. "Speaking of esoteric, how's Giles doing?"

"Oh, he's fine, I'm sure," said Buffy, somewhat dismissively. "He says hi. It's too bad he couldn't be the librarian here, too. It'd be convenient."

"Well, the last time I talked to him, he said he was enjoying being a Gentleman of Leisure."

Buffy snorted. "Gentleman of Leisure. It's that just British for 'unemployed'?"

Willow giggled. "Yep, he's a slacker now."

"Speaking of slackers," Buffy said, somewhat tentatively, "heard anything from Xander yet?"

Buffy knew that Willow was upset Xander hadn't contacted her at all this summer. Heck, Buffy was upset about that, too, but she sort of understood it. Xander needed time away from the madness was all. Buffy couldn't really complain about it, especially after her disappearing act last summer. At least Xander had told people he was leaving, and that he'd be back at some point. Still, Willow had been Xander's best friend and confidant forever, so it was natural she was taking his silence harder than Buffy.

"No, nothing yet," Willow said with a sigh, as they mounted the steps to the Library. "I figured he'd be back by the time school started, but then I realized that was silly, because he's not going to school. Why would he need to be back? Still, it feels wrong not having him around, you know?"

Buffy gave her friend a small, sad smile. "Yeah, I know. I hope he gets back soon. It'd be fun to get the gang together, you know, hang out in the..." Buffy paused as she took in the building they'd just entered. "...library?" she continued, in a small voice.

The UC-Sunnydale library didn't look that big from the outside, but from the inside it looked enormous. The furniture was pretty much modern office-type furniture, the carpeting a non- descript beige, and few decorations. What caught Buffy's attention, though, was the large opening in the center of the building, obviously designed to let the light from the large skylight down into the lower floors. After walking the fifty feet or so from the door to the open area, Buffy could see that the library had three floors above the ground level, and at least one floor below. Placing her hands on the railing, she could look up and see onto each of the floors above. What she saw surprised her.

Students! There were actual students, reading actual books, going through the shelves, sitting in what looked to be a sitting area on the opposite side of the open area one floor up. It hit her now, as it never had before, that college was going to be completely different from high school.

Willow, who had followed her to the open part of the library, made some excited noises and headed back towards the front door to get some brochures describing the building's layout and hours of operation. Buffy kept hold of the railing, clearly unnerved.

*******************************

Buffy cheered up a bit after they left the library. It was hard not to, when Willow was so relentlessly upbeat. She was glad Willow was there. Otherwise, she might get a bit morose.

Morose, she thought? I've definitely spent too much time around Giles this summer.

Buffy and Willow worked their way through the crowds at the campus book store, getting Buffy's books for her classes. Buffy was pulling the books off the shelves with her good arm, and Willow was holding Buffy's basket.

Buffy dumped her statistics book into the basket, and noticed Willow sag a little under the burden. "Look, Willow, I really appreciate this, but you don't have to carry all the books. I could easily hold the basket with my good arm, and you could get books off the shelf."

Willow put a mild version of her resolve face on. "I'm sure Giles gave you the same talk he gave me. Ecret-say idenities-ay, remember? No way could 'normal' you carry these books with only your left arm. Trust me, I can barely hold them up, and I'm using two arms. I'll be fine."

"I guess." Buffy said, looking down at her list in her right hand. "At least Giles says I should be able to take the sling off in another day or so. I'm getting really tired of this particular fashion statement. Okay, only Intro to Psych left to go."

Willow glanced up and down the shelves. "Oh, up there," Willow said, trying to point with her nose because both hands were busy dealing with Buffy's book basket.

"Great, top shelf," Buffy grumbled. "This store discriminates against short people."

"I'm sure there's a protest next week," Willow replied mischievously.

Buffy gave her a smile, then reached for the book on the bottom of the pile on the shelf. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Mmm...got it!"

Unfortunately, pulling the bottom book out of the stack unbalanced it, resulting in the top four books falling on those below. Two of the books fell on Buffy's own head, which she'd protected somewhat with the book she'd pulled out. Those bounced off and fell behind her. One of the books fell harmlessly at Willow's feet to Buffy's right. The fourth book fell to Buffy's left, directly on top of the head of another student who had hunched over to get a book off the bottom shelf.

Buffy was mortified. "Oh! Oh god, I'm sorry!"

The young man looked up at Buffy with a pained expression, patting his head tentatively where the book had struck. "I'm okay. It's okay."

The young man checked his hand for blood, and seeing none, decided to chance standing up. No dizziness, he noted. Good. "Well, that was bracing," he said, looking down at the woman who was getting more flustered by the minute.

Buffy didn't know what to do. This guy looked like an upperclassman. She'd met her first upperclassman by dropping a book on his head! Her social life was doomed, she just knew it. "I'm so, I just...the books were too high, and then everything was bad."

Willow had put Buffy's book basket down, and had already collected three of the four dropped textbooks. The young man picked up the one that had hit him, and reached for the other three.

"Here, let me give you a hand with those," the young man said, taking the other three books and putting all four back on the shelf, realigning the stack to make it more sturdy. "So," he said, turning to Buffy and Willow, "are you ladies taking Intro Psych, or do you just want me dead?"

"Uh-huh. I mean the first one," Buffy replied, still embarrassed.

Willow piped up from behind Buffy, "Actually, it's just her taking Intro Psych. I don't go here. Oh, and I don't want you dead, either."

The young man turned his attention to Buffy. "Well, you'll have a lot of fun. Professor Walsh is quite a character."

The young man was surprised when the one who responded wasn't the one who said she was taking the course. "You've taken it?" Willow asked.

The young man turned to the redhead who apparently had the verbal skills. "I'm a T.A., and I'll be helping the professor out. I'm sorry; I've forgotten my manners in all the concussion. I'm Riley, Riley Finn."

Riley wasn't surprised when it was the redhead who answered. "Willow Rosenberg. And this is my friend Buffy Summers."

"Nice to meet you both." Riley said.

Willow was excited at getting a possible insight into Professor Walsh's lesson plan. "Do you know if she's gonna cover operant conditioning in the first semester? I heard that was kind of Professor Walsh's specialty."

Riley was confused now. He thought the blond was the one going here. Maybe the knock on the head was more serious than he thought. "Why?"

"I'm taking Psych over at Crestwood this semester, and I thought I might try to borrow Buffy's notes or something if she covers it."

Ah, an eager undergrad type, Riley thought. "That won't be in the Intro course, but do you know her treatise on Dietrick's work?"

Willow thought for a moment. "I've heard of it, I think..."

Riley was warming to his subject. "It's not on the syllabus, so your friend here won't be buying it, but it's a fascinating read, if you're into that sort of thing. They have it here."

Willow got excited. "Ooh, really? Where?"

"I'll show you," Riley said, directing Willow over to a different shelving unit in the same area of the store. Buffy pushed her basket along behind them with her feet, trying to make it look like it took some effort.

Riley glanced over at Willow as he checked the titles on the shelf he'd directed her to. "So, are you a sophomore at Crestwood?"

Willow almost glowed at the compliment. "Actually, I'm a mere freshman."

Riley was startled. "Really? I don't meet a lot of freshman that know that much about psychology."

"Well, it's fascinating," Willow replied.

Buffy felt that she was rapidly being left behind by this conversation, so she thought she should contribute something. "Yeah, 'cause...you know, everyone's got a brain..."

Riley smiled thinly at this comment, and turned his attention back to Willow. Or, almost everyone, Buffy added to herself.

Willow, feeling sorry for her suddenly awkward friend, and tried to cover. "Yeah, as soon as I knew I was going to take Psych, I got Buffy to sign up for it, too. I mean, I know, different schools, but how different can the topics covered be?"

Riley smiled. "Oh, I think you'll find that Professor Walsh's methods are fairly...unique."

*******************************

Buffy's patrol that night didn't turn up any vamps to track. She was getting a better feel for the campus, though, so she decided it wasn't a total loss. As she came back into the room, Buffy froze when she heard noises coming from Tara's bed. It was 2:30 a.m., and she was mentally scrambling for a reasonable excuse for being out when she realized that Tara was just muttering in her sleep, not talking to her. Buffy relaxed, washed up quietly in the sink, changed into her sushi pajamas and got in bed. She lay there for a while, trying to make out what Tara was saying in her sleep, but she couldn't pick any words out. Eventually, Buffy went to sleep herself.

*******************************

Buffy only had two classes on her first day. Her first one was Freshman English at 10 a.m., and the class was huge. It was in a big lecture hall, with at least 150 students, Buffy figured. She thought she'd be okay showing up five minutes early, and was surprised to find almost all the seats filled. The only open seat was in the middle of a long row near the back, and she was still working her way down the aisle with a lot of excuse me's and backpack shuffling when the professor walked to the lectern.

The instructor, Professor Riegert, looked like the classic college professor. Slightly wild, graying hair, full beard and glasses. Blue v-necked sweater and tweed blazer over a white dress shirt. Buffy had just reached her seat when the Professor started talking.

"This class will teach you many things," Professor Riegert began. "It will teach you how to write. It will teach you how to read. It will teach you how to think. If you are here to learn, you have come to the right place. If not, you might want to think about switching to another professor's section to fulfill your English requirement. Let's begin with today's reading. You, third row, black t-shirt: stand up and tell us why the author wrote this story."

As the unfortunate first target struggled with the question, Buffy turned to the woman on her right and whispered "What does he mean today's reading? It's the first class, right?"

Before her neighbor had a chance to answer, Professor Riegert interrupted the black t-shirted student. "Sit down. Although I'm fairly certain you had no valid point to make, I can't know for sure because there was someone else talking. You, blond woman, middle of the row, near the back. Why are you interrupting my class?"

Buffy could not believe the professor was talking to her. She looked around, hoping she'd locate someone else who fit the description. When Professor Riegert said "Well? Stand up and tell us what was so important," Buffy knew it was her.

Buffy stood up and cleared her throat, hoping she could keep the nervous quaver out of her voice. "Um, I was just asking how we could have something due today, seeing how it's the first day and all."

"Let this be a lesson to all of you," Professor Riegert said to the entire room. "First of all, if any of you speak when not authorized to, you had better be willing to share what you are saying with everyone, and it had better be more important than what the other student or I was saying. Second, if any of you begin a sentence with 'um,' or 'like,' or any other nonsense word, I will immediately tell you to sit down and I will ignore anything else you have to say. Third, none of my classes are wasted time. There will be writing assignments, readings or both due for every class. As this blond woman has obviously yet to discover, assignments are posted on the English department's assignment board, as well as on the department's Web site. Finally, if you are not prepared for a class, do not bother coming. I will not tolerate lazy students. Blond woman, leave now."

Buffy was in shock. How had this happened? How could she fix it? Unfortunately for her, she decided to speak. "But...I didn't know about the..."

"Do you have a problem understanding basic instruction? You are taking the time and energy of the students who actually came here to learn. You are sucking the life out of this classroom as we speak. Get out!"

Buffy bent over to pick up her backpack with her good arm, and still being in shock over how badly this had gotten so quickly, unwisely spoke again. "I didn't mean...to suck..."

"Leave! Now!" Buffy silently began making her way back down the row of students to the aisle. "Thank you. Before we were so rudely interrupted, I was hoping someone could tell me why the author wrote this story. The first attempted answer was wildly unsuccessful. Volunteers?"

Buffy headed out the doors of the classroom, feeling more embarrassed and ashamed than she could ever remember being. She was so worked up, she was trembling. She headed back to her room unsteadily, not fully aware of her surroundings. She was glad that Tara was at class, so she could have the room to herself. After she got to the room, she spent most of the time until her next class crying out her shame, her self-pity and her frustration.

*******************************

Buffy felt emotionally drained as she headed to her next class, Intro to Psych. She was glad she'd had the chance to dump some of her emotions in her room before heading to this class, though. Buffy sincerely doubted she would have had the strength to face another professor if she hadn't.

Buffy wandered down the corridor, looking for the Psych classroom. As she paused in front of one room, Riley walked up to her.

"If you're looking for Intro to Psych, it's through here," Riley said, pointing further down the hall.

"Great, thanks. How's your head?" Buffy asked, walking next to Riley towards the classroom.

Riley looked confused. "What?"

"Yesterday, in the store, falling books...oh my god, you did get concussed. You don't remember."

Riley's eyes lit up as he remembered the situation. "Oh, no, sure, I remember you. Falling books tend to do that. You're Willow's friend."

Buffy couldn't believe she'd made that insignificant an impression. She'd even dropped a book on him, and he still didn't remember her name. "Yeah," she said, dejectedly.

Riley was oblivious to Buffy's demeanor. "My head's fine. It just stung for a bit, and I lost most of my major motor functions. No biggie." They arrived at the classroom door. "Here we are, ah...I'm sorry, I'm trying to remember..."

"Buffy."

"Right. Well, have fun." Riley headed towards the small desk off to the side for the T.A.

Before he got more than two steps away, Buffy called after him. "Um, I'm just wondering...Professor Walsh isn't planning to yell at me and kick me out of her class, is she?"

Riley gave Buffy a confused look. This girl is an odd one, he thought. "It's not on her lesson plan...," he said.

"Great." With that, Buffy turned away from Riley and looked over the rest of the classroom.

This one was about half the size of her English classroom, and was only about two-thirds full. She noticed Oz sitting about halfway up, gesturing towards an empty seat next to him on the aisle. Buffy was pretty sure she'd never been so happy to see Oz in all her life. She hopped up the steps to the seat Oz saved for her, but didn't talk to him, instead keeping her eyes peeled for Professor Walsh.

Oz wasn't entirely sure who Buffy was looking for, but figured Buffy could talk and look at the same time. He leaned over and asked quietly, "So, how was Freshman English?"

Buffy never stopped scanning the room, but leaned over a bit to tell Oz, "I think I'm going to switch sections. I don't want to have two classes in a row..."

Buffy stopped speaking and sat up as soon as Professor Maggie Walsh walked into the room. At least mean old Riegert taught me one thing, Buffy thought sardonically. I'm pretty sure I'll never speak out of turn in class again.

Buffy was pleased to see that Professor Walsh was about her height, and had the build Buffy would expect she herself would have if she ever reached her fifties. Her hair was blond and grey, kept fairly short, with a slight curl to it. She was dressed for some reason in a white lab coat, although Buffy was pretty sure that Psych wasn't a department that needed lab coats. However, there was absolutely no way that Buffy would make any comments to Oz about it right now. Perhaps after class, she thought, as Professor Walsh began her intro.

"Okay. This is Psych 105, Introduction to Psychology. I'm Professor Walsh. Those of you who fall into my good graces will come to know me as Maggie. Those of you who do not will come to know me by the nickname my T.A.'s use and think I don't know about, the Evil Bitch Monster of Death, sometimes EBMoD for short."

Several students in the class chuckled at this, including Oz, but Buffy made no sound at all. Better safe than booted, she figured.

Professor Walsh continued. "Make no mistake: I run a hard class. I assign a lot of work, I talk fast and I expect you to keep up. If you're looking to coast through this, hoping for something easy to fill your science requirement, I recommend Geology 101. It's where the football players are."

*******************************

Buffy stumbled through the west gate back onto the campus proper, relying on her companion to help keep her on her feet. She had survived Psych, spent the early afternoon dealing with the Registrar to switch her English section, and then headed over to Giles's for his final approval before ditching the sling. Happy to be the arm equivalent of bipedal again, she swung by her house for supper with Mom, and then headed out on her frat row tour with Oz, feeling much better than she had earlier that morning. However, she was still a little upset about the whole getting kicked out of class thing, which probably led to her decision that she deserved to try one of the jello shots at the Alpha Delt party.

Of course, stopping at one jello shot was impossible. First off, they were free. Second, they tasted darn good. And third, they helped her forget about her morning.

So, it was a fairly inebriated Slayer that was winding her way along The Gauntlet, with the help of a guy she'd met at the party. She wasn't paying close attention, and accidentally drove her companion into the side of one of the tables the student organizations had used and, obviously mistakenly, left outside.

"Sorry," Buffy slurred. "Wasn't lookin'."

"'at's awright," her companion mumbled. He was bent over at the waist, knees slightly bent, and his chest and head were resting on the table. "It's comforable."

"Where are we goin'? I need to get to...Seevesson. You know where Seevesson is?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Don' know where you live?" her companion asked.

"Nope...'m pat-...-pat-...patetic. 'At's me," Buffy finally managed to get out.

"Naw," her companion replied. "I don' know where 'm goin' either." He reached into the back pocket of his jeans, which was fairly easy to do from his draped position, pulled something out of his pocket, and held it up. "An' I gotta map!"

Buffy giggled for almost a full half-minute, before saying, "Okay. You're more pat-...pat- ...lame."

Buffy's inability to say pathetic set them both laughing.

After the laughter had died down a bit, Buffy leaned against the same table her companion was still draped over, and tilted her head to the side to try and look him in the eye. "You're funny. Who're you again?"

"'m Eddie. Who're you?"

"Buffy. Can I see your map?"

Eddie handed his map over. "Be m' guest."

Buffy squinted at the map, turned it around a few times, but finally figured out where they were and where she wanted to go. "Okie-dokie. Get up, we're goin' this way," she said, pointing an unsteady finger in the general direction of Stevenson Hall.

"But 'at's not where I live," Eddie said somewhat plaintively, as he finally stood up.

"You weren't gonna walk me home? 'At's not pol-...pol-...nice."

"How'm I gonna get home?" Eddie asked, apparently more concerned with his problems than his manners.

"We'll figger it out when we get to my place. Less go!"

*******************************

Two hours later, Eddie made his way down the steps of Stevenson Hall, and checked his map for the best way to Dunwirth Hall, where he lived. Deciding to go for the most direct route, he turned right, and headed down the side of the quad.

The passage of time had reduced the effect of the alcohol on his system, so he was thinking a bit more clearly than before. What had just happened to him certainly helped with the clear thinking, too.

He couldn't believe it: he'd finally gotten laid.

Eddie wasn't the kind of guy to describe things that, well, crassly, but it seemed the best description for what had just happened. He'd met Buffy at the Alpha Delt party, and they'd talked a little, but just enough to discover they were both freshmen and that they were both in Intro to Psych. When Buffy said she was leaving, he offered to walk her back to campus. When they got to her dorm, she'd invited him up. As soon as she found out her roommate wasn't home, she'd just about thrown herself at him.

Eddie was honestly more interested in finding a girlfriend than finding a quick screw, but he was still an 18-year-old male, which meant that he was physically incapable of turning down a woman who obviously wanted him. Even though she made it clear, despite the drunken haze they were both in, that this was a one-time thing.

Honestly, for a first time, he didn't think he could've asked for any better. Their frenzied beginning led to a fairly quick finish, but Buffy wasn't through with him. She kept up the foreplay--or should it be postplay, or maybe midplay, Eddie mused--until Eddie was ready to go again. He needed a bit more encouragement to finish the second go-round, which meant Buffy had to work a little more for it. He thought she might have even broken a sweat, which pleased him greatly for some reason.

He didn't think any part of his body had ever been squeezed that hard, and yet felt so good at the same time.

He turned right off the quad to take the narrow path towards his dorm, and was still lost in Buffy-related thoughts when he accidentally bumped into someone.

Talking a few stumbling steps back, Eddie looked up at whom he bumped into. His apology stuck in his throat, as he realized something was seriously wrong.

The thing in front of him was dressed like someone out of _Sid & Nancy_. Plaid, flannel micro- mini, black tights with holes in them, and combat boots. Tight, ripped-up black t-shirt with some band Eddie had never heard of on it, way too much eye makeup, and short, spiky blond hair.

Even taking into consideration her clothes, the thing that was really wrong was her face. She had some kind of ridges on her forehead, yellow eyes, and impossibly long teeth. It was obvious, even to the recently drunk and still tipsy Eddie, that he needed to get out of there.

He turned to run back to the quad, but stopped short as two more creatures with the same facial problems came out of the shadows and began to move slowly towards him.

Eddie turned around to face the thing he'd bumped into, hoping to get around her, and noticed with dismay that two more creatures with faces like her had come up behind her. With high, impenetrable bushes on either side of this section of the path, there was literally nowhere to run.

The punk-looking creature smiled a very creepy smile, and began moving towards Eddie. He froze in place, uncertain as to what was coming, but knowing it wasn't going to be good.

"I'm sorry," the vampire said, as she knocked Eddie out with a left hook that he hadn't seen coming. "Did you lose your way?" 


End file.
